Dragon Age II Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Available only if you sided with Orsino at the beginning of Act 3 during their altercation. Start the quest by talking to Ser Marlein Selbrech in Hightown. After accepting the quest, head to Darktown and head into the Hidden Supply Depot. Clear out the mercenaries waiting within and continue on to Lowtown, where you find Ser Mettin. The Templar and his buddies attack the party without much provocation.

A letter gets sent to the Hawke Estate with details of the next step: a return to Lowtown at night. It'd be wise at this point to include an adequate healer in the group to keep the party revitalized as needed. Ser Marlein awaits your arrival. The ambush that ensues catches Marlein and the party by surprise (as is the nature of an ambush); protect the noble from these assailants, although that may be easier said than done. The Ser Edgert the Hound is a particularly dangerous foe, so pour your efforts into ousting him from the fight forthwith. The enemy continues to bog down the party with near endless waves of enemies that include a Templar Lieutenant as well. As a side note, if you haven't yet cleaned up the streets of Followers of She from the Kind of Want quest, you'll also have them to deal with in addition to the myriad of enemies in the first place.

Kind of Want

This gang called the Follower of She claims the dark streets of Lowtown as their territory. If you want to challenge them, you'll need to deplete their numbers until their leader deigns to fight you. Head into the Decrepit Alley to answer the challenge to kill off the gang leader, Hanker, who is also a Desire Demon. Once eliminated, head to The Hanged Man to claim the bounty from A Friend.

King Alistair

Rigid prerequisites here: You must have chosen the Hero of Ferelden back story or have an Origins save in which Alistair became king. With one of those chief conditions satisfied, you'll find the letter beginning this quest after completing On the Loose.

Walk into the Viscount's Keep to witness a scene between Meredith and Alistair. The quest ends after this short but amusing conversation with the king.

Red Run Streets

Another classic kill-them-all quest that involves brawling with Bloodrager Thrall enemies that hang around Hightown at night. They should give you no trouble at all save for possibly the mage among the group. Once the invitation has been thrown out there, enter the Suspicious House to square off against Jake "The Bleeder" Hall. Not surprisingly, Jake practices blood magic and can be quite the threat to the party. At this point, though, the methods of shackling a mage's ability to cast should become second-nature and characters like Fenris or Isabela are natural born mage destroyers, easily obliterating this foe. No contest.

Reining It In

The Slave Hunters at the Docks are just asking for a firm beating. Thin their numbers out on the streets until you are issued a challenge to visit their hideout at the Run Down Alley. The leader, Jess "Leashmaster" Varvel, isn't anything spectacular beyond the fact she's a mage. Do away with her and attend to her pesky lackeys. Remember that you need to completely rid this area of any remaining Slavers to finish the quest.

The Awiergan Scrolls

There are three scrolls lying on the ground in three specific locations. Finding these and reading them generates special encounters against more powerful versions of commonplace foes that, when defeated, would update the quest until the Pride Unbound quest begins proper (see below). All of the main opponents encountered excel at wreaking massive destruction upon an unprepared party and are all essentially mini-boss fights. Abandon the mindset of carelessly hammering away at them willy-nilly; you'll need a healer and/or any character possessing an impressive knack for locking down enemies with a variety of debuffs.

The First Aspect is located at The Wounded Coast, at a dead end not too far from the entrance. After inspecting it, proceed along the main path until a myriad of Corpses all of a sudden rise from the ground. These spawns pave the way toward the ultimate target: an Arcane Horror named Medan. Any magic-caster is useless if he's not casting magic, so make that the case for as long as possible here. Revoke its spell-casting rights with a variety of countermeasures against casting, like dispels (which more or less counterspell on top of removing buffs) to get the initial barrage of damage-enhancing debuffs and damage in.

The Second and Third Aspect are both located on Sundermount. Before attempting to grab these, we highly recommend grabbing a tank and a dedicated healer. The last battle is not only healing intensive but also necessitates a proper balance of smart positioning and single-target focus; it's just as taxing on your reserve of potions, so we also suggest stocking up a little bit.

The Third Aspect sits off to the side by the entrance when you first enter Sundermount. The encounter for this one happens at the first campfire site en route up the mountain, pitting you against another Arcane Horror. Again, it is of paramount importance to suspend its spell-casting and support your assault on it with aggressiveness and dutiful healing where needed. The Second Aspect is located behind the slab of rock here by the campsite. Proceed through the Caverns to the Mountain Graveyard area to trigger the final encounter.

This final encounter throws just three named foes against you. A lumbering and fairly weak Corpse named Bysmor, who is trailed by two powerful Revenants: Gifre and Beacon. Pour your energy into downing Bysmor as quick as humanly possible before turning your attention to one of the Revenants. Although the tank should work hard to keep both incredibly durable Revenants transfixed on him or herself, the rest of the party is advised to concentrate on just one at a time, digging deep into electricity and spirit magic reserves. The Revenants might be walking tree trunks of seeming impregnability, but they are surprisingly easy to afflict with various status effects, such as slows. Abuse Gravity Ring and the ice spells and keep most characters at a distance if possible. Any spells that attenuate damage from the Revenant should be cast on the tank occasionally as well. Don't be ashamed to be consuming potions; renew your aggression with potions as you see fit.

The Awiergan Scrolls: Pride Unbound

Each scroll acted as a constituent of a power trinity that contained the very evil and monstrous Hybris. Now with the force-field released, this personification of Pride resides under Kirkwall. While you can't suddenly burrow underground to face the monstrosity head-on, you can find the Hidden Lair very near Ander's clinic in Darktown. For this fight, we recommend bringing a stalwart tank and a dedicated healer.

Hybris boasts an intimidating health bar and his colossal size might easily cause any fledgling adventurer cowering in the corner, but a fledgling you are not! The most annoying aspect of this fight is the constant addition of Rage Demons and Shades despite there already being one or two present in the battle. This ploy to bog you down with more adds succeeds in taking your attention away from the primary target, Hybris. We recommend devoting the tank to just taking all the adds, including Hybis if possible, upon herself and keeping them from running amuck. Throw AoE spells towards the giant mob of monsters here and then to thin the numbers, but your true focus should stay on depleting Hybris' health through a combination of Hexes, Haste buffs, fire magic, etc. This Pride Demon is of nature affinity, therefore any fire spells are pretty effective. As well, Hybris is susceptible to many forms of speed impairments, so exploit this weakness with a vengeance to reduce its health to zero.

The Last Holdouts

Available only if you favored Meredith in the beginning altercation between her and Orsino. Start the quest by talking to the barmaid at The Hanged Man at night and then speak to Ser Mettin.

After agreeing to help, you are to travel to Darktown and head to the quest marker. The party is assaulted by a ragtag crew of Blood Mages and other enemies. Characters like Fenris and Isabela are mage destroyers. Now read all four of the Blood Mage Dispatches and move on to the Hawke Estate, where you'll receive a new letter from Ser Mettin on the desk.

Make off to Sundermount Caverns and traverse the windy area to reach the Blood Mage Base. Packs of Blood Mages to fend off here, though luckily you have Ser Mettin and Ser Agatha to fight by your side for a little while. Continue on to face Bancroft and more mages. Hone in on Bancroft's superior powers as a Blood Mage and remove him as quickly as possible. After the battle, Ser Mettin would wish to annihilate the other mages, much to the chagrin of Agatha, but you can plead to show mercy to the other mages. Otherwise, you'll have to fight Mettin himself with Agatha's aid. However, if you support the bloodthirsty Templar, you will have Agatha and her followers to answer to.

The Lost Swords

In order to partake in this quest, you'll need to have gained the Arishok's respect during Act 2 (which is done mainly through the discourse during Blackpowder Courtesy). A lone Qunari named Taarbas standing in Hightown has been tasked with collecting the swords of fallen Qunari soldiers scattered throughout the region. Find them and return them to him in any order. There are a total of 10 Qunari Swords to find.

Hightown: Buy from Korval's Blade for 3 gold and 75 silver.
Hightown (De Launcet Mansion): During the quest On the Loose, you'll find this in a chest in the northeast room. There are Master-grade traps to disarm as well.
Lowtown: Buy from Weaponsmithy for 3 gold.
Lowtown (Night): Under a pile of rubble in the Foundry.
The Gallows: The Weapons Shop has it for 3 gold and 75 silver.
Docks (Night): There are two here. One in a pile of bones located behind a column in the Harbormaster's Office area; the second is inside a chest that requires 40 Cunning to unlock in the Warehouse.
The Wounded Coast: The last two located here are a bit trickier to find. The first is hidden in a pile of bone that's in the northwest of the region, where the Tal-Vashoth camp was in Act 1. The second can be found by heading west from the main entrance until the path goes off to the right. It is found in a pile of bones on the western side of the loop.

Who Needs Rescuing?

As of this writing, this quest is still bugged and unable to be completed.

Accept this letter at your humble estate and head off to The Wounded Coast to find Orlanna (who appears if you've updated to the latest patch). You'll have to fight her captors, a few Bandits and their leader, to free her from captivity. Your standard run-of-the-mill encounter, but the quest cannot be completed at present due to a bug.